


Promise Ring

by rainzieli



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Earth, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, klance, klangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 07:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14130981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainzieli/pseuds/rainzieli
Summary: “Continue down Galra Avenue for 1 mile, then turn right into your destination, Alfor’s Funeral Home.” Keith’s breath hitched, he took a quick glance at the time, there was still ten minutes before the funeral service started. He pulled into the dreaded place.Keith really didn’t want to go in. He wanted to turn back home, walk into his apartment with their two cats Red and Blue. Keith wanted to sit down on the couch and wait for him to come home.





	Promise Ring

It was a beautiful day out, perhaps even perfect depending on your preference. It would’ve been perfect to Keith, had the circumstances of the day to come were different.

Driving down the road seemed to be a difficult task. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, but once his hour-long road trip ended he’d be slapped in the face by reality again.

The light at the intersection ahead turned red, he had to stop. He just wanted to get this day over with. Trying to distract himself, Keith decided to turn down the radio and take in the beautiful environment around him.

The temperature was in the seventies (Fahrenheit), there was barely any windchill, not a single cloud in the sky. It was going to stay like that for the rest of the day, and the temperature wasn’t going to drop too much during the night. A perfect day for seeing the stars. A perfect day wasted. Perfect had never existed and when something even seemed close to being perfect something horrible had to happen.

The light turned green and Keith turned his focus back on the road, shaking his head slightly to get rid of the thoughts he knew were about to come. “Continue down Altea Road for the next 5 miles, then turn right onto Galra Avenue.” His GPS told him. He finally recognized one of the road names. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he turned.

“Continue down Galra Avenue for 1 mile, then turn right into your destination, Alfor’s Funeral Home.” Keith’s breath hitched, he took a quick glance at the time, there was still ten minutes before the funeral service started. He pulled into the dreaded place.

Keith really didn’t want to go in. He wanted to turn back home, walk into his apartment with their two cats Red and Blue. Keith wanted to sit down on the couch and wait for him to come home.

He put his car in park, hesitating to take off his seatbelt. There was still seven minutes, he stayed put to stall time.

Keith reached into the pockets of his jeans, pulling out some tissues and his wallet. He opened his wallet and saw the picture he had taken with Lance when they had rented a house by the side of their university campus about three years back.

 

\----- Five Years Ago -----

 

Lance and Keith had met in their first year in math class. They sat next to each other every day and eventually starting talking. The entire reason they started having conversations was that Shiro, Keith’s older brother, had encouraged him to make some new friends. Hunk, which was Lance’s childhood friend had crossed paths with Keith more than once. All of them became really good friends. About five months later they started dating. Hunk was really happy for them, but both Keith and Lance made an agreement that if things didn’t work out they’d still hang out. A failed relationship doesn’t always mean a failed friendship.

Lance and Keith had really bad luck with the roommates that were picked for them and constantly had problems with them. When the second year rolled by they didn’t want to room together because they didn’t want to rush into things, but they kind of regretted it when they both got yet another set of terrible roommates.

Hunk, on the other hand, became good friends with his roommate and stuck with him for a while.

Both Keith and Lance had enough of the shenanigans and decided to rent a house close to the campus together for their third year. 

During the first six months of living together they slept in separate rooms, but eventually, Keith moved into Lance’s room and they shared a bed, leaving an extra room empty.  
Keith and Hunk also met this girl named Pidge who was in the same major as Hunk that year. She was in her first year, but they ended up getting really close.

In the fourth year, Hunk’s dorm roommate transferred to a different school, so Hunk crashed in Keith’s old room, which worked out really well. Not to mention everyone paid less rent money.

They all hung out constantly, even inviting Shiro and Pidge over from time-to-time. Once they decided to play monopoly, which quickly turned into what Pidge swore could be considered World War III. Friendships and relationships weren’t taken for granted.

“Babe, I’m gonna need you to pay up that one grand,” Lance said with that shit eating grin on his face.

“Seriously? You’ve already got more money than the rest of us combined! Also, I only got about three grand left, you should be donating to the poor!”

“Hmm…?” he had a smirk on his face that pissed Keith off. “Nah, I’m good. This is war, mullet!” Lance said while snatching one grand from Keith’s hand, slamming it down on his pile.

It seemed like Lance was going to win but everyone else purposely targeted him and somehow Pidge won with about $100 left. “I won World War III, guys,” she said tiredly.

 

\----- Present Day -----

 

Keith looked back at the time. The funeral service was starting in four minutes. Any sort of hesitation to go inside had to be ignored. He grabbed the blue roses, red roses, and lilacs that were sitting in the passenger seat. He opened the car door, but before shutting it he checked his maroon suit’s pocket. Content after reassuring himself that a small box was still in there. He shut the door, walking towards the building at a quick pace. He wanted to get this over with. He just wanted to go home. Could it even be considered a home now?

The door was light, but for some reason, it felt heavy. Keith hadn’t felt the best coming here. He felt mostly like dead weight, kind of numb, but when he walked into the room that smelled like lavender his stomach twisted. He felt the stinge of sickness because there it was, right across the room. The casket.  
There was a small room where a few people were standing while talking in hushed voices. Keith recognized one of them as Mrs. McClain, the other two were people Keith didn’t know, he assumed they ran the place. 

The small room opened up to a larger room with two rows of chairs. One was labeled “friends” and the other was labeled “family”. In between was a walkway, it looked similar to how a wedding was set up, but it lacked a lot of colors and well, happy faces. Instead of a wedding arch, there was the casket. The only colors that popped out in the room were the flowers and pictures surrounding the wooden box. 

Keith started walking towards the “friends” section of chairs when he was stopped and greeted by Mrs. McClain. “Hey, Keith!” She said with a fake smile. He couldn’t blame her, who could smile properly after losing their own child to a car crash. “I’m so glad you could make it. I wish we were seeing each other under better circumstances… We wanted you to sit in the family section. First row to be specific.”

“But… Isn’t that where you, Mr. McClain, Veron-”

“Yes, but… You’re very close family in our eyes. Your brother was also invited to sit in the family row, although he isn’t sitting in the front.” She gestured to Shiro, who glanced back at Keith and smiled, it looked forced, and was he crying?

Keith looked back at her, forced the best smile he could, gave a small nod and walked down with her into the first row. Don’t get him wrong, he was happy to be considered close family, but just as Mrs. McClain said, he wished it were under better circumstances.

Hunk and Pidge were in the first row of “friends” and when they saw Keith, their faces of grief cracked with tints of sympathy. Hunk had a drop of water trail down his cheek.  
Keith could feel the water building up in his eyes, but he refused to give in. He didn’t want to cry. He gripped onto the tissues he brought a little tighter, just in case.

 

The funeral service started shortly after Keith sat down. Someone named Allura started it off by giving the description of what had happened to cause this young man’s death, and then a small introduction to the building they were in, probably trying to distract everyone from the wistfulness of the situation.  
Keith didn’t even need to hear the explanation. He didn’t want to. He lived through it, did he really need to hear it again?

 

\----- One Month Ago -----

 

Lance was working late tonight, so Keith didn’t think it was odd that he hadn’t come home by 7 pm at all. He was a little concerned why his boyfriend wasn’t home by 8 pm, but apparently, there was a lot of traffic from a car crash on the highway. He wasn’t scared until he saw the car crash. It was bad. The front of a car was on slightly damaged, but that car had shoved another into the wall that divided the two sides of the highway. It was smashed and looked like it was on fire at one point. He could swear it was Lance’s car, but the car was a popular pick so there were small chances of it being his right? He was wrong.

Thirty minutes later he decided to call Lance. He didn’t pick up. Five minutes later he got a call from an unknown number. He picked it up. “Hello, this is the Arus County Hospital, do you know Lance McClain?”

Keith’s heart felt like it stopped, he got up while saying, “Yes, why? Is something wrong?” He reached for his keys, missing them a few times because he was staring right at where his red jacket was.

“Lance was caught up in a nasty car accident. There was a drunk driver who was also under the influence of drugs. They hit Lance’s car into a wall as they were speeding away from the cops…” The voice replied calmly.

“How bad is - are the injuries?” Keith asked, his voice cracking a bit.

“We’ll fill you in once you’re here.” The voice said. “You’re coming right?” 

“Yeah,” Keith said hurriedly, his keys already in his car and put his car in reverse out of the driveway. 

“His family is here by the way. I’m assuming you know what they look like because they asked us to contact you.

“Yeah… I do.” Keith said. He was having a hard time hiding the fear in his voice.

“Alright, have a safe drive.” The voice said, then hung up after a pause.

Keith would be lying if he said he didn’t go a little over the speed limit that night.

 

When he got to the hospital, Lance’s family filled him in on the injuries. They were not good. He was clearly going to have brain damage, no doubt about it. He had a broken leg, two broken arms, pieces of shattered glass all over his sides. They said that the injuries were very severe and he might not make it out of the hospital alive. They didn’t tell him anything more than that. He’s glad they didn’t because he might’ve puked from nerves.

He stayed for a while but decided to go home. Well, he was mostly forced to go home by Mrs. McClain when it got late.

A few days later he was able to visit Lance. He sat by his bedside and sandwiched one of Lance’s hands between the death grip of both of his. He leaned his head into the hands and closed his eyes trying to cry. He didn’t try hard enough because eventually, tears slipped out of his tear ducts.  
Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro visited him that day and found him like that.

They also found him screaming and sobbing in the corner of the waiting room one day. A nurse was trying to calm him down. That’s how they found out Lance didn’t make it.

 

\----- Present Day -----

 

Keith was still during the entire funeral service. He was afraid one movement would cause the tears forming in his eyes to slip down. He probably looked emotionless not crying, that or he looked completely numb.

Once the service ended, everyone was allowed to say their final goodbyes. Friends were asked to go up their first. Then extended family. When Shiro was done, he decided to wait for Keith outside. Hunk and Pidge were probably out there as well.

Now only close family members were left. Allura and one of the other speakers, Coran, left to give everyone some space.

Veronica, Marco, and Louis, Lance’s siblings, went up there first. They were talking about some of their childhood memories. Sometimes it ended with them laughing, but they never stopped crying.

Lance’s Grandma went up there next. She whispered a few things that Keith couldn’t hear and placed down some flowers next to the casket. She left the room saying she needed some fresh air. Lance’s siblings did the same.

His parents were next. They took longer than the others, with all rights to doing so as well. Once they were done, Mrs. McClain wiped her tears and approached Keith. 

“We’ll leave you alone to say your final goodbyes. Try to think of the good memories.” She sounded like she was choking, but attempted a smile. 

Keith hesitantly went to the side of the casket. He pulled up a chair and sat down on it because his legs felt like they were going to give up underneath his weight. He looked down at the tan face he knew so well, all of him hoping this was all just one giant, horrible prank that someone played on him. That those beautiful blue eyes would slowly open up, just as they did every morning before Keith had to get ready.

Finally, a tear slipped down his cheek. Then another and another. He pulled out the small box from his suit. It was a ring box. He opened it up and looked inside. An engagement ring was in there. It had a red jewel, the one he got for himself was a blue jewel. It was supposed to be like that so that they carried each other's colors around on their fingers. They were in the same box he got when Lance… 

He looked down at his hand. He had a ring on his pinky. He remembered the day he got it. It was a little over a year ago. A year of a hoping for a promise, a promise that would be broken in the end.

 

\----- One Year Ago -----

 

It was finally over. Four years of work piles over! Now a long ceremony would end it all. It was graduation day.

Keith and Hunk had already gotten their time to shine on the stage and grabbed their diplomas. Hunk had majored in Aerospace Engineering, while Keith got his in Media Arts & Animation.

Now they were waiting for Lance for his name to call. Lance was seated in the “M-Z” section while Hunk and Keith were in the “A-L” section, so they couldn’t sit together. They were finally on the “M” last names after going down the alphabet. Keith wasn’t completely paying attention to anything, just clapping when everyone else did, until he heard the oh so familiar name ring in his ears. “Lance McClain!”

Both Hunk and he sat up straighter than they had before, full attention on the large crowd of seats. They saw some movement in one of the rows, then Lance was striding down the pathway that led to the stage. His smile was beaming with pride when he reached the platform and he looked so excited. “Lance McClain has earned his major in Astronomy & Astrophysics!”

Everyone clapped but were confused when he didn’t send Lance down or call another name. Instead, Lance said something, then the announcer nodded. “Before we continue with the ceremony, we have something else! We’d like Keith Kogane to come up to the stage again!”

Keith froze for a second. He didn’t know what was happening, but then he heard Lance shout over the silence of the shocked crowd, “Keith! Come on,” which snapped Keith out of whatever shock he had.

He stood up, walking out of the row, taking note of Hunk’s all-knowing smirk, and went up the aisle just as he had done about forty minutes before. When he finally reached the stage, he looked Lance right in the eyes.

“Keith,” Lance started off, “I’ve known you for only four years. But god, it’s been one of the best four years of my life. When we started dating I had never been so in love in my life. There’s something special about you.”

Keith could feel the heat rising to his face, but he was suddenly snapped back to reality by an “aww” in the crowd that he was not with just Lance, there was a whole crowd of people. Then he remembered the screens projecting on different angles for all eyes to see. Even the seating for families, which had Lance’s family. He kind of started to freak out a bit.

Lance walked closer to him and gave him a soft smile until they were a good foot away from each other, and he put his hand on Keith’s arm. “We’ve always been there for each other. You’re funny, you’re always able to brighten up a room just by walking in it. You’re such an amazing person. It’s something that I would want for… Well, till I don’t have any time left in the world.”

Lance put his hand into his pocket. Keith processed what he just said, so did everyone else. When Lance pulled out the ring box the crowd gasped then went dead silent.  
“Now before any assumptions are made,” Lance said quickly, “This is not an engagement ring, buuuuuuuuut!” Lance kneeled down. Keith’s arms went stiff, he didn’t know what to do with them.

“It’s a promise ring…” you could hear the smile in his voice. “A promise that we will get engaged one day, that we will get married one day.” Lance was smiling down at the ring, then brought his gaze to Keith and his smile grew even brighter. “Keith… I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t want to rush into an engagement right now because we still have to find permanent jobs and weddings are not cheap, but if money wasn’t a factor I’d be proposing right now.” he said softly. When had Keith started crying? “So, Mullet. Do you accept my promise?”

Keith giggled and forced out a “Yes,” and Lance put the ring on his pinky.

“Pinky is the finger of promise, so of course it’s going there.” Lance blabbered while laughing. He was crying too.

They both hugged each other and ended the hug with a short and sweet kiss on the lips. Keith forgot the crowd existed for a few moments until everyone cheered for them both. In the loud noise of the crowd, all Keith heard Lance say, “I love you.”

“I love you too, dork”

 

\----- Present Day -----

 

“Remember you promised we’d get engaged?” Keith sobbed out. “Promised we’d get,” he choked on the sobs, “that we’d get married.”

He sobbed again, “You’ve never-” he took a deep breath, “bro-ken a… a promise before!” 

“I love you, dork… You can’t… You can’t break the promise of…” he took another breath, “of love.” But you could.

Keith was sure he was yelling now, but he didn’t care. “You asshole!” He brought his hands up to his face.

He was shaking from all the sobbing and he started mumbling incoherent things, tried to form sentences but he couldn’t. He finally managed to choke out something after he placed the flowers on his lover’s chest.

_“You promised…”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you liked it?
> 
> Tumblr: https://inkedmackenzie.tumblr.com/


End file.
